I'm a newbie to KXStudio trying to get Muse to import a set of midi files from tracks I have in Ardour
and then route them to my soundcard (so I can hear them) and back to Ardour so I can edit them (individually).
I am not using midi hardware, just files I found on the internet.

Here is a screenshot of where I am so far and I can't hear these files play when I hit Ardour's transport button.
The mixer strips in Ardour show that the files are in fact playing (and I can play them all alone in Muse and hear them
if I import them into Muse).

I'm not entirely sure what you aim to accomplish, "midi files from tracks I have in Ardour", what does that mean?
Do you have a midi composition in Ardour that you want to import in MusE and send back to Ardour? I won't stop you from jumping through hoops but it sounds a bit complicated <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s -->

If we for the moment just focus on MusE and midi files. If you have a .mid file that you want to import into MusE this is done from the the File menu ->Import Midifile (possibly this is your problem since your screenshot shows the configuration dialog). After the file has been imported, a bunch of midi tracks will appear in MusE. The "Port" column for each track needs to be adjusted to the midi device you want to send it to (it will likely be set to some default device which isn't right).
The question here is what should play the sound? If the midi device is external or Ardour you probably can set the "Port" directly.
If you plan on sending audio to Ardour you can setup a softsynth in MusE and set the "Port" to this synth.
Then this synth should route the audio to an output and further to Ardour.

I hope that helped a bit, feel free to ask and/or explain more what you mean to achieve.

Thank you for your response!
I play guitar, and starting last year, I began playing around with Ardour, and became able to record and overdub my guitar playing.
I've been using Ubuntu 12.04 64 bit LTS and Ardour 3.

Recently after suggestions from LinuxMusicians.com forum, I decide to give KXStudio a whirl. So far, I like the tools it offers, and I use Ardour 3.5.357.
On that forum I found this website which has lotsa info on MIDI ... <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://home.roadrunner.com/~jgglatt/">http://home.roadrunner.com/~jgglatt/</a><!-- m -->
I clicked one of its links ... <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://home.roadrunner.com/~jgglatt/files/midifile.htm">http://home.roadrunner.com/~jgglatt/files/midifile.htm</a><!-- m --> and on that page I clicked "Drum beats" and > downloaded and unzipped "Bossa Nova (Latin)"
It is a midi file, and sounds terrific, something I can use as a practice loop for instance. I can play that file (13 tracks) with Audacious, and MUSE via my soundcard.

But problem is I can't figure out how to, after importing them to Muse, route and edit them into Ardour, then out to the soundcard. What my goal is...
End up with these midi tracks in Ardor so I can hear them, and dub in my guitar, and of course save andexport my project so I can for example burn to disc.

Once I am able to use these midi drum/percussion tracks, and understand more about how midi files work, I can then easily hook up my guitar to Ardour with my
Audiobox USB interface (which works fine with Ardour) and do some jamming. (smile)

Hi Leo,
I understand a bit better your motivation.
Not to push you away from MusE but if you are already familiar with Ardour, can't you import the midi file there? I haven't tried so I don't know what Ardour offers in terms of midi functionality.

Ignoring that, let's talk about how to achieve stuff with MusE.
You managed to import the midi file apparently. You mention also having been able to play the midi back using MusE?
If that is the case you are pretty much done, from my perspective.
To get MusE to playback the midi, did you load the fluidsynth synthesizer and load a soundfont?
If that is the case MusE is properly setup.
All that is missing is routing the output of MusE to Ardour.
Check the output strip in MusE, down at the bottom there are icons for input and output, for the output there should be some ardour inputs visible that you can connect to.

You can do it this way, recording the output of MusE into Ardour, but I would actually suggest you chose a different route.
1. Do it all in Ardour, if it supports midi-import, all of this should be possible there.
2. Do it all in MusE, recording audio is perfectly possible there too.
3. Don't record MusE into Ardour, just sync them together.
Syncing them together is actually not so hard but it's more of a hardcore solution.

Yes, thank you. What you are saying does make sense.
Ardour 3.5.357 apparently has improved over the previous designs by the way it handles midi files for example.
I ended up trying Muse with Ardour only because I'm hunting and pecking through forums, manuals, tutorials, etc.
So far I've tried accomplish my goal as I outlined here by using Muse AND not ( ie,solely with Ardour).
My sticking point is looking like something more I need to learn in Ardour.
I have separate hard drives, one loaded with Ubuntu Studio LTS 12.04 64 bit, the other with KX Studio 12.04 64bit.
A difference I've noticed between the two is the default ways each are set up in JACK, and US uses Pulse Audio, KX does not.
I can get Muse, standalone, to play back my mid files in US, but not in KXS. They both show in Patchage, and Ladish, a port labeled
"MIDI Through" and I'm not sure what that is, something in my soundcard perhaps? On one distro, that port is green, the other distro it is brown
(in the Ladish/Patchage diagrams).
Here are screenshots of US and KXS setups, first with no apps loaded, then with MUSE, then with MUSE and Ardour....

Ok I am making progress!
I can now import midi files and play them and connect to Ardour to record the tracks as well.
I at first could do this only in Ubuntu Studio (US) but not in KX Studio (KXS).
Then, after comparing tha Jack setups in both distros, I discovered that Jack>Setup>Miscellaneous had (Enable sequencer support" unticked (off) in the KXS setup, but it was ticked (on) in US.
So, after enabling it on the KXS setup....voila!! I now have audible sound in either distro.

Now, my next step is:
1) Compare the 2 distros to see which I prefer.
2) Figure out how best to edit, pan, change volume, on each individual track and/or add synths and instruments, so the resulting mix in Ardour is to my liking.
3) Then I can comfortably start dubbing in my guitar work in Ardour.
If you have any suggestions for me at this point, I certainly welcome them!